I Am With You
by TheFirstTrio
Summary: When a nightmare reveals itself to be a vision, Terra and Sora go to the Dark Realm to save Aqua. What they find is a being of rage and hate. Can they save the wayward Master?


_**A KHIII One Shot: I'm With You**_

"_We were meant to rescue each other, not cut down the forest to rescue one."—Shannon L. Alder_

The Realm of Darkness was a literal living hell for any being not native to it or steeped deeply in darkness. It was a land that morphed continuously, using the pieces of fallen worlds to create bizarre landscapes that would confused those not sharp with their wits, create deadly traps that killed the unwary, and worked to keep foreigners trapped forever until they could be devoured or created into a new being of darkness.

No one could last in such a hellish world that constantly taunted him or her with past memories and teased them repeatedly with escape. And if someone survived for long—_over a decade in her case—_then simply being in the Realm of Darkness would eventually twisted a victim. No one could survive forever in a landscape that corroded anything it touched.

No one could.

Not even Aqua.

It happened one day—a change that earned the denizens of the dark a satisfying scream of utter, complete horror. Aqua had known she was in constant danger in the world; the bluenette understood the Heartless and the Realm they resided in would never stop chasing her until she fell to darkness or died. Aqua had always expected to die in combat.

She didn't expect to wake up one day—or night, time was so _meaningless_ here—and look down at her body to find it was literally corroding into something unfamiliar. In her nightmare riddled sleep of seeing Terra—or someone who looked similar to Terra—doing terrible deeds or Xehanort killing her friends, never in her wildest nightmares would she expect her body was falling to darkness before her mind.

When she saw how she looked, her legs no long supported her weight as she sat haphazardly on the ground, tears pouring from her eyes. She tried to wake up from this terrible nightmare the Realm of Darkness had spawned in her mind, but no amount of slapping, pitching, and biting the inside of her mouth worked. This was a nightmare given life.

Aqua, trying to blink away tears, scratched furiously at her arms and legs with now blood red digits and palms, trying so hard to remove the black from her skin. Legs that once sported creamy toned flesh had turned a revolting black up to nearly her shorts, while arms were black up to mid-bicep. Black veins stood out heavily against any remain cream-colored skin. From her wrists down, Aqua's hands were a hellish red, tipped with claws.

This wasn't happening. This _couldn't _be happening. She couldn't let herself go like this. Aqua sobbed hysterically as her hands shot up to the side of her head, head pounding as the roar of rushing blood filled her ears. Her shaky hands came away from fistfuls of hair slightly off colored hair. Her stomach convulsed violently as she fought the urge to vomit right then and there. She was successful in fighting off her urges to vomit, but she still sobbed loudly.

She didn't care about the dozens of curious, beady yellow eyes staring at her in the dark distance. She had no idea where blue eyes were already starting to take a hellish yellow to them, blue ringed with gold.

She didn't care about the possible danger.

She didn't care if she looked weak.

All she wanted was to go home; she wanted to save her friends. She wanted to live again. She didn't want to turn into a monster because no one had been able to save her yet or help her in her plight. She was alone, afraid, and finally cracking under the pressure of being in the rotten realm for so long. Her fighting here would likely be the stuff of legends if anyone ever found out. But none of that mattered to Aqua.

Aqua wanted out. She wanted freedom.

But most of all, she wanted Terra. She wanted to tell him all the things she hadn't. She didn't want to be alone anymore. She would do anything to see his face again, to talk with him, and to finally kiss the man.

But fate was so cruel. She was going to become something horrible and Aqua knew this, deep down in her racing heart.

Finally, she dared to scream as loud as she could. She didn't care anymore about the attention she was sure to attract.

"_Terra! Terra, please, help me!"_

"_Aqua!"_ Terra roared as he suddenly sat up in his bed. A cold sweat made his silver hair stick to his head. His cobalt eyes darted around his simple room, body shivering from an unseen cold despite how arm his room was. His covers had been kicked off of his bed and were now lying in a wad on the floor. The muscular man came to his feet as his mind tried to process the horrific nightmare he had just had. He paced back and form in front of a star shaped window, reminding him he was at the Mysterious Tower and not in some cursed dream promising a false freedom.

Ever since Riku and Sora had helped him regain control of his body from Xemnas, Terra had had plenty of nightmares left over from his days trapped within his own heart. An equal number had come from his memories as Xemnas, from the experiences done on that raven-haired girl or the pain inflicted on his subordinates.

He had never had a nightmare about Aqua turning into a monster in the Realm of Darkness. But that nightmare seemed to unbelievably real; it was like he had been watching her and he had heard her scream for him. Her voice had been so full of fear, pain, misery, and a desire for release that Terra had begun to realize that his nightmare might be much more than that.

That it wasn't a nightmare. Terra realized with increasing horror and panic that his nightmare had been real.

Terra didn't give a damn whose turn it was to go to the Realm of Darkness and look for Aqua. He didn't care about what other places needed their help right now. He also didn't give a damn if it was 0200 in the morning and almost everyone else in the tower was resting. He knew that his nightmare was a warning that something horrible was happening to Aqua right now. She needed their help right this minute.

Lacking any other clothing, Terra fumbled to put on his Organization XIII attire on, cursing as he tried to hurry. He would get everyone up if he had to and demand each and every one them to all go in the Realm of Darkness to find Aqua, even if it was extremely irrational to do so.

'_I'm coming, Aqua. I swear to you, I'll make things right,'_ Terra thought as he finished getting dressed and nearly tore his door of its hinges, the tower's magic barely stopping such an event from happening.

The Realm of Darkness was an uninviting as ever. The dark stones, the black empty sky, and the ever shifting world scape made traveling here extremely hazardous for anyone, experienced or not. There were traps of all types, hallucinations, Heartless, and a complete lack of proper time flow to contend with. The entire air of the Realm of Darkness felt like hope was pointless and death was waiting under every boulder.

There's no way it could be worse.

But yet it was; Sora found it to be worse than usual. The Heartless hadn't bothered him or Terra since the panicking man had startled him from his sleep to ask for help. Apparently he was completely convinced that Aqua was in serious trouble and they needed to go right now. Once they had arrived via Terra's Corridor of Darkness, the lack of Heartless did not offset the even more intense feelings of foreboding that seemed to constantly be at the back of Sora's mind.

Terra's complete desire to go after Aqua was more intense than usual. The desperate look in his eyes, even though he looked so similar to Xemnas, told Sora all he needed to now. If Kairi were in the same situation as Aqua was right now, he'd have gone as well, no questions asked.

So as they walked down a seemingly endless dark path surrounded by high bluish-black cliff walls, Sora occasionally glanced at Terra's back between scans of the area for traps or Heartless. He could see the man was incredibly tense and worried about his friend, although even the oblivious Sora could tell it was _much_ deeper than that.

Sora held the Kingdom Key by his side as they walked, Terra sporting the massive Ends of the Earth. Sora, by now, learned Terra's raw strength was utterly legendary and he respected it greatly after getting a solid stomping by Terra's armor in the past, despite defeating the Lingering Will of Terra. Sora had always been a relatively even balance of speed and strength, so he knew his weaknesses by now. His strengths truly lied in special moves anyways.

The silence between Terra and Sora was a bit too much, the young spiky haired brunette clearing his voice as he said, "So, Terra…what was your vision 'bout? I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I'm sure it was pretty bad, I mean you looked like you were really upset, but—"

"Aqua's being consumed."

Terra's steely voice made Sora's heart drop as he cut off Sora's rambling.

"W…what?"

Terra spared Sora a glance and felt his edginess soften at the young man's spooked and worried expression. Sora practically wore his heart(s?) on his sleeve, making him emotional but very sincere. He realized he was just concerned for Aqua, despite her being a nearly complete stranger. Maybe it was because she had saved Riku in the past?

Terra wasn't close to Sora, but that was not because of the lack of effort on Sora's part. Terra just was a lot more reserved than ever before, with guilt hanging heavy on his heart.

Focusing on the task at hand, Terra said, "Aqua…this place is chipping away at her. She can't stay here a second longer." His voiced seemed to echo in the pathway as he felt his heart skip a few beats. Aqua had to be in so much pain down here. Her horrified face was haunting him right now.

His eyes glanced at the walls around them; something caught his attention, causing him to slow down.

Then Terra froze.

Her face wasn't merely haunting him. It was be her face was all over the cliff walls!

Sora was just as shocked as Terra, having never seen the Realm of Darkness do this before. He had never seen such an aggressive amount of taunting, as he looked around at all the faces of Aqua, frozen in pain or horror. Sora couldn't begin to imagine how Terra was feeling right now; he himself was feeling very uneasy now.

But a few of those faces, as Terra and Sora noticed, were much more sinister. Hateful. Vengeful.

When Terra snarled angrily, it caused Sora to jump back in surprise. But he really shouldn't have been; Terra's temper was equally as well known as his raw strength. Being in Xemnas's body had not tempered it. The silver haired man screamed out his anger at the universe and its cruelty.

Sora, understanding that Terra must be feeling so hurt and lost, walked up behind him and placed a firm, reassuring hand on his shoulder. Terra turned to face him, his eyes watery with sorrow and anger, and a pleading look in his face. Sora knew that Terra wanted to find Aqua so badly it hurt, but screaming in anger wasn't going to solve anything.

"Terra, we're going to find her and we're _**going**_ to save her," Sora stated with a strong conviction, like this was the simplest truth in the entire world. Words came to him that he didn't fully understand where he had heard before, smiling in a very familiar way to Terra as he concluded, "We've all got an unbreakable connection, right?"

Terra's pained expression morphed into surprise at the words of the past. How had Sora ever heard them at all? And his grin and attitude was extremely familiar to him for some reason. It was…almost Ventus like.

All of this reassured him, despite still being surrounded by so many disturbing mockeries of Aqua's face. Calming down, he grinned at Sora's infectious joy and replied, "You're right. We won't leave without her."

With renewed strength and determination, Terra and Sora continued deeper into the Realm. They had no idea that a figure had been trailing them from a distance for some time now.

Terra and Sora had no idea how close they were.

Sora had taken the lead this time, cheerfully bounding his way into a canyon opening in the seemingly endless path he and Terra had been following for some time now. There had still been no Heartless, which had put Sora into a good mood outwardly.

As Terra trailed behind him, he was actually very much on guard. Both he and Terra had not fought a Heartless yet, but between seeing several dolls shaped like Aqua, her face on the walls, and even a few extremely real hallucinations, her felt like the Realm was gearing them up for something really bad.

He couldn't begin to understand how Terra was feeling, but he wanted Terra to know he'd help him find Aqua no matter what. Looking back to Terra, he struck up some light-hearted conversation.

"Well, creepy noises and sights aside, it's been a good stroll through the Realm, huh?" Sora chirped as he grinned brightly back at Terra.

"Oh, yes, because substituting all the freaky shit for Heartless makes this place all sunshine and roses," Terra replied with a deadpanned expression which made him look far _too_ much like Xemnas for a brief moment.

Sora pouted at this before using his index fingers to push his pout into a grin, replying, "You gotta stay positive, Terra. Say it with me! P-o-s-i-t-i-v-e."

Terra took in a deep breath as she fought back all his urges to smack Sora on the head like Riku did sometimes. He liked the kid and his infectious personality most of the time, but right now, he was far too irritable to be ok with Sora's happy-go-lucky attitude.

"You're too happy."

"You're too…uh…not happy."

"Really? That's the best you've got?" Terra replied in a bemused tone.

"Hey! Riku's better at this than me!"

"_**Neither **_of you are good at anything, if you want my opinion."

Both Terra and Sora froze at the sound of a new voice, with Sora looking back over Terra's shoulder at something behind him. For Sora, the sight must be quite unexpected because his expression was a plain mixture of shock, sadness, and worry.

And…fear? Was Sora afraid of what he was seeing?

Terra was afraid to turn around too. He had heard that voice so many times in his dreams and nightmares. Her musical tone, her laugh, her scolding, her everything rushed back to his mind. His ears roar with rushing blood as she dared to slowly turn around.

He wasn't prepared to see Aqua.

Terra turned and his mouth dropped open.

He couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. Aqua was of light; she should be full of it. She could never been full of darkness and light, like some twisted, macabre monster of herself. Aqua was the best of them, the strongest willed, and the most committed to light.

But there she was, sitting on a small boulder, looking at them with a sneering expression of contempt, cradling her chin into her palm. It was Aqua, without a doubt. He could never forget her face and her looks. But she looked so…_wrong._

Her hair was a bleached blue, being lighter than normal. Her skin was a bit paler, with inky dark veins branching off of the sections of her limbs that were completely black, like she had been dipped into ink. Her hands were claw-like now and from the wrist down, were a glowing blood red color. Her outfit was tattered and darkened, while her boots were gone, being bare foot—but her feet were more beast-like, clawed like her hands. Tendrils of sickening darkness and flecks of white light rolled off of her like a horde of angry vipers.

But what Terra hated the most were her eyes. Gone were the blue orbs that sparkled with delight or got stormy when she was upset. Instead, her eyes were a sulfuric yellow, whites turned black with red veins pulsing in them.

'_No…no, Aqua…' _Terra with horror as his mouth had gone dry, tongue feeling like sandpaper.

Before either of them could speak to her, Aqua slipped onto her feet smoothly, looking at her wrist for a moment before she all but growled, "You're too late."

"Aqua…what…?" Terra rasped out, voice too quiet to be heard by Aqua.

Sora, on the other hand, said, "Aqua…" He could see just how angry and tense she was, like a big jungle cat ready to strike out at its prey. Something in his chest really hurt when he saw her sitting there, looking the way she did. Sora wasn't entirely sure what, but he just knew this wasn't fair. Aqua didn't deserve this fate.

The bluenette scoffed loudly at the surprised expressions of Terra and Sora. "Don't act so surprised. What did you incompetent morons expect?"

Terra, finally recovering his wits, jolted to action, hand reaching towards Aqua's slowly approaching form with a lost look. "Aqua…what happened to you…?"

This brought Aqua to a halt before she sneered, responding, "What a stupid question to ask. But then again, you've always ben pretty stupid, Terra." Her words cut deep into Terra's heart with how accusing they were, making him flinch.

Sora intervened immediately to defend Terra from Aqua's anger laced words, taking a defensive stance in front of Terra as he yelled, "Stop it, Aqua! This isn't you! You can fight it!"

"Ha. That's rich! 'Fight it!' the boy says. 'Fight it and you'll be ok!'" Aqua replied with a sinister laugh before she narrowed her eyes. "You stay out of this, little maggot. What do you know of me? I've been fighting this for _years."_

Sora bit his lip and said, "But we're here now. We can help you! We can—"

Aqua's explosive rage caught him and Terra off-guard when her hands glowed brightly, along with her yellow eyes, which looked like hellish lanterns. She screamed with rage, aura turning into a hurricane of power that sent gusts of chilly wind at Terra and Sora. The wind tore at their skin, whipping their hair and clothes. Aqua screamed hatefully at them, voice cracking as she shrieked.

"_I've been here for over ten years! TEN YEARS! And __**no ONE EVER CAME!"**_

And as suddenly as it came, the wind stopped. Terra stared at her wide-eyed, while Sora gritted his teeth and placed the Kingdom Key out in front of him defensively, getting ready for battle.

Terra shook himself out of his stupor and said, "No, Aqua! Please, we don't need to fight! You can leave and this hell can be over." He paused as he dared to approach her, making her hiss at him like a snake. He didn't falter at her anger as he said to her, "You called for me in my dreams. I'm s-so sorry it took so long, but please…please…let us help."

Aqua let out a mirthless laugh at this. They didn't understand how lonely she had been here. They didn't understand she had always combated feelings of loneliness and being rejected, which the Realm had used on her relentlessly. They had no clue of the suffering she had endured her because she had been so selfless. She had helped people and what had she to show for it?

"The darkness speaks here, you know. Like a broken recorder that spouts off information," Aqua began softly as she once again paced around them, energy rolling off of her. "I didn't listen at first to keep…" She blanched at the word. "…**hope."**

Aqua looked directly at Terra, followed by Sora, cutting them off with her glare. She was not done speaking and she was not interested in any heroic speeches. "I saved Terra. What did it do? It cost me my Stormfell, my armor, my freedom, everything. What did he do….what did he do!? He was Xehanort's puppet and destroyed people's lives, ruined worlds, and ruined me! What a horrible man. And that little silver haired bastard I saved, Riku? He cost me my chance at freedom and did he help others after that? No, he hurt people. He did it under the pretense of helping that brat—" Aqua jabbed a finger at Sora. "—right there. Why is it that only I get to endure all the consequences? Because no good deed I committed went unpunished. Even the Master's Keyblade abandoned me. Everyone and everything I loved did."

Terra felt his anger come to life at Aqua's ranting. He had done things he could never forgive himself for and a lot of what she said of him was true, but seeing her like this made him hurt so much. It made him so angry,

"I know you're hurting Aqua. I can see it on your body and heard it in each word. But I swear I'm not going to leave you behind," Terra said as his expression became extremely determined. He was ready to do whatever it took; he couldn't stand her being down here. "I'll drag you out of here kicking and screaming."

Sora couldn't have said it better if he had been the one speaking, smiling at Terra with a signature, goofy grin before looking at Aqua. She had gone silent, staring at them with those highly unnerving eyes. "Terra's right. We're not gonna give up on you! I know we might have been late, but we won't stop now what we've found you!"

Aqua's lips quivered for but a moment before they contorted into a hate laced snarl, eyes glowing bright again. "I don't want your mission of mercy, you worms. I want you all to feel my pain!" She lowered her stance as she got into a familiar fighting stance to Terra—she really didn't have a Keyblade. She then growled, "You can take all your regrets to Hell because that's were I'm sending you both!"

Combat began almost immediately.

As Sora and Terra charged at the bestial, enraged Aqua, Terra knew one thing.

He _would_ save her.

Aqua, Sora, and Terra all collided together with a crash that generated a potent shockwave that kicked up dust and rocks, cracking the ground below them. Aqua had successfully avoided Terra's Keyblade while deflecting Sora's. This gave her a small opening to attack, pulling her hand away from Terra's End of the Earth before she fired a series of Firagas from each hand. Sora rolled away from the attacks in a hurry, feeling the heat wave from each concessive explosion. Terra, on the other hand, powered through them with a Guard shield, reaching Aqua with a roar.

She laughed at him and slinked into a Corridor of Darkness before his Keyblade would have struck her stomach. He stumbled in surprise, earning himself a painful set of claw swings across his upper back that drew blood. He staggered forward before he pivoted around hard, sparks flying as her claws racked over Ends of the Earth. He stared back into those ghastly yellow eyes as she snarled at him.

Sora leaped back into the fray now, letting out a battle cry as he reached Aqua and Terra. She tilted her head to avoid the Kingdom Key before darting away from Terra's thrust and Sora's follow-up downward swing. She was forced back as both Sora and Terra began a furious tag team of Keyblade strikes against her. She skillfully defended against attacks by dodging, deflecting and blocking incoming blows with her hands or Barrier spell. A few blows slipped past, despite her power and skills, making her grunt in pain as Ends of the Earth struck her side a few times and the Kingdom Key pelted her cheek twice. Her lip was busted as a result, drawing blood.

"I will make you both suffer!" Aqua growled as she deflected the Kingdom Key into End's of the Earth, the shockwave of the two weapons colliding shaking both their wielders before Aqua's right fist smashed into Terra's face and sent him flying, while am uppercut to Sora flung him into the air, blood spraying from his mouth. She rushed after Terra, darting around his barrage of red ethereal beams before she teleported as she reached him, making him yell in alarm "Sora!"

Sora was aware enough to hear Aqua appearing behind him and flinging a glob of magic at him from her left hand, an unstable Holy barreling at him. He snarled as he deflected the attack back at Aqua, making her snap up her arms before the spell connected. There was a powerful explosion that flung Aqua towards the ground, white smoke rolling off of her arms as she landed.

Recovering quickly and ignoring the burning pain on her forearms, Aqua's right hand grabbed the Kingdom Key as Sora tried to thrust it into her, swinging him around. Sora yelped in surprise as Terra barely avoided being hit by his ally, ducking under him and tackling Aqua to the ground. Sora was able to right himself as Terra tried his best to pin Aqua to the ground.

"Aqua, you don't have to be a slave to your darkness!" Terra pleaded to his friend and to the woman he loved, trying to end this fight with words instead of weapons. She opened her mouth, but not to speak. Terra was thrown back from a blast of darkness from her mouth, clawing at his face to remove the sticky, burning ichor that Aqua spat on him.

Getting to her feet quickly, Aqua replied, "Stop talking and just die!" She viciously kicked Terra across his face, making him flop onto his side and shatter the ground explosively. Hunks of darkness-tainted rocks were flung into the air, creating a dust cloud that blanketed Aqua and the dazed Terra.

This same cloud allowed Sora to burst through it and plow into Aqua with a speedy series of spinning Keyblade strikes as he forced her away from Terra. She groaned in pain as the attacks ended with an explosion of Holy magic that burnt her stomach painfully, making Aqua cartwheel away from him with plenty of new bruises. She began to stalk around Sora and Terra hatefully, eyes and arms glowing threateningly.

Terra, free of the gunk on his face, stood up next to Sora and muttered, "I knew she was gonna be tough, but it's like our attacks aren't doing any last…" Terra began before he watched, in mounting horror, as Aqua's wounds healed up completely without a Curaga. "…damage."

Sora watched Aqua with a worried expression. "It's like…the Realm of Darkness is healing her!" He quickly cast Curaga on them both on order to heal their own damage, but Aqua seemed to not even been winded from the fighting so far.

Aqua suddenly attacked them, snapping out both arms away from her body and into a pair of Corridors of Darkness. On instinct, Sora rolled away from an unfamiliar spell, feeling a pale yellow beam rocket over his back. Terra threw himself to the ground back first as a Darkga shrieked out of a black portal.

With both of them down, Aqua launched herself forward and managed to stomp on Sora's back. He screamed in pain as she stomped him repeatedly with her armored boots before he swung his Keyblade at her ankle, making her dart back right into Terra's Ethereal Blades. She hissed as she began to dodge blood red blades she had never seen Terra use before. They hummed through the air, one blade grazing her side. She could feel the heat from these blades and the danger they represented to her.

As Aqua moved back and away from Terra, there was a flicker of the old Aqua. She smiled and said, "New moves, huh? I'm impressed. I guess you're not as inflexible as the ground you're named after."

Terra tried to seize on this moment, seeing she wasn't completely consumed by rage. He remained in a defensive stance as he saw Sora scramble to his feet, Keyblade morphing into a spear in a burst of watery power. It was clear Sora was getting really serious now. The warm up was over for everyone. But Terra tried to end the battle with his wits versus his brawn.

"Aqua…please. You can take revenge on Xehanort if you come with us. We could use your help…"

Sora waited to see if Terra's words—his offering of revenge—would help end this.

This seemed to make the bleached bluenette pause for a moment, eyes dulling as she seemed to contemplating something. She was distant as she stared off into nothing. Her arms hung limply at her sides, as she seemed to try and think, her face scrunching up in a mix of pain and anger. She looked conflicted, like she was fighting herself.

"Xehanort…" she muttered lowly before she looked at Terra and her face twisted into a hateful smile. "I do want revenge, yes. Yes! Ha, ha, ha!" She began to laugh insanely, black ooze running from her tear ducts as she cried with tainted joy. Terra felt his heart chill in fear as Sora prepared for the worst. He could tell she wasn't going to stop attacking them just on her laugh alone.

"I think I'll start with you two! Isn't that right, _Xemnas?"_ she jeered darkly, putting extra emphasis on Terra's past identity, wild eyes settling on Terra as her smile seemed to almost split her face open.

Terra flinched at the name she had called him, acting like she had poured acid on his soul. Was she really that far gone that she would call him Xemnas? He hated that name and he loathed he still looked like him. His expression hardened as his grip on his Keyblade tightened exponentially.

Sora noticed how angry Terra looked suddenly and realized that he was going to snap. This wasn't what they needed right now! He yelled at Aqua, voicing his anger at how she was acting. "His name is Terra and, if we gotta, we're gonna beat some sense into you!"

"The only thing that will happen here…is both of you _dying,"_ Aqua replied with a venomous tone, unleashing a fearsome burst of power that shook the area, light and darkness roaring off of her. Terra, meanwhile, snarled as he formed an Ethereal Blade in his left palm and tapped into all of his vast strength, calling on his own might and the leftover powers of Xemnas. Sora called on his tremendous light, a beacon of hope for so many, awesome energy swirling around him.

Terra and Sora were on Aqua simultaneously, with the bluenette being forced on the defense instantly by their combined assault. She did her best to avoid the whirring Keyblade, the humming Ethereal Blade, and the hurricane of spears. Sweat poured off of Aqua as one phantom spear clipped her neck, blood spraying from her wound as she hissed. She was struggling to hold her own now; how could they fight so well together? She could barely get a chance to counterattack!

Terra landed a ringing blow on Aqua's face, snapping her head to the right, the woman staggering in the direction of the blow. Blood poured from her mouth and nose before she snarled, whirling back around and flung two spear-like lines from her palms that pierced Sora's and Terra's stomachs, but did no real damage. Instead, they allowed Aqua to yank them in, catching them off guard before three pillars of flames exploded around her. Terra roared in agony while Sora screamed out in bloody murder as red-hot tongues of flames liked their bodies and ruined their attires. Smoke rolled off of them as each fighter rolled broke free from Aqua's spell and escaped before more damage could be inflicted.

Still, Aqua managed to close the distance on Sora and rack him several times with her claws, leaving multiple X patterns on his chest and stomach. Before she could do anymore damage, Terra smashed into her side with his bulk, throwing her off of the brunette. He was forced to tank a series of Seeker Mines she left behind, a chain of explosions throwing him back again.

'_Damn it, we gotta finish this now!'_ Terra thought desperately as Aqua healed up effortlessly. They needed to get her out of the Realm of Darkness because she never got weaker while they got steadily more tired and worn down.

Sora also knew this; he could feel himself getting more and more tired. His arms hurt, his body hurt, and even with a Curaga on both them, it didn't replace any lost stamina. But maybe they didn't need to win a battle of attrition, but overpower her in one massive assault.

It was dangerous. This could cost them all their power and pay out nothing. But they had to try!

"Terra! Together!" Sora called out as he gathered all his power for a real finisher. Fierce winds whirled around Aqua as she braced herself, Sora's golden light hurting her eyes as she narrowed them while shield herself with her arms. She missed Terra moving next to Sora, getting back to back with him.

She had no time to react when both Sora and Terra lunged at her like a pair of rockets, starting to agonizing barrage of spinning attacks, made up of Ethereal Blades and phantom spears. Aqua staggered and hacked up blood as several burns and cuts appeared all over her body, blood running freely from her wounds. She was bounced around and back, but the two warriors didn't let up on her.

Eventually, she was tossed back some distance, the bluenette screaming with rage, her eyes unfocused and glowing. One eye was dilated to a pinpoint, while her arms glowed like hot irons. However, her rage turned into fear when she looked up and saw dozens of spears rushing down at her from the sky, along with dozens of basketball sized back orbs. She needed to move!

She tried to, but something held her in place. She glanced down and realized there was a pair of darkness-based hands were coming out the ground and grabbing her ankles. Aqua struggled violently against them, firing a Firaga at her own legs to try and break free.

But it was too late. The spears rained down all around her, exploding into watery blasts that became freezing cold when the darkness based attacks also exploded around her. She squealed in pain, but they were soon drowned out by the fierce attacks of Terra and Sora. This went on for several seconds before both fighters burned through all their strength in this combined attack.

There was an unnerving silence as Sora collapsed onto one knee, panting as he did so. Terra barely managed to remain on his feet as the tainted dust and smoke from all the explosions covered where Aqua had been. Both of them were wondering if that had done the trick. As several large stones upended by the barrage tumbled back down to the ground, both of them watched the dust settle down slowly.

Terra tried to see through the dying smoke, hoping that they had at least knocked her out. If she was still standing, then they were going to be in serious trouble. Both of them had put their all into that joint attack.

Their answer on Aqua's condition came suddenly as a beam of magic pierced the dust and went through Terra's chest. He stared dumbly at his now smoking chest before he dropped onto his knees and then crashed face first into the sand. Sora could only look on in horror as he scream, "TERRA!"

A chuckle made Sora look forward into a roaring ball of energy as Aqua's heavily damaged, but healing, form filled his vision. Her body was shaking in pain and her skin was marred with burns and cuts. One of her eyes was swollen shut. But she seemed no less deadly than she was seconds agao. Her smile promised him only death as she said, "You should worry about yourself, Sora."

Sora gritted his teeth and replied, "You don't need to do this. Let us help you, please!"

Aqua just laughed softly at his plea, replying, "No one can help me now. It's too late."

Before she could level Sora and end this fight, a Corridor of Darkness opened next to her, surprising her for just long enough that she failed to noticed Terra getting to his feet and rushing her, blood pouring from his painful wound. She looked back at him just in time to have the powerhouse smashed into her and Sora, taking all three of them into the darkness.

Sora grunted as he flopped face first onto the fresh morning grass, getting wet from the dew as the sun began to rise into the sky. He had no clue were Terra hand taken them and he was now two weakened to really fight properly. He forced himself to look up at where he heard Aqua and Terra struggling with one another.

Although struggling was a poor term for what Sora actually witness. Aqua was straddling him and viciously punching Terra across his face with her fists, snapping his head back and forth as he simply lied there and took each painful blow, eyes closed as he barely winced in pain.

But Aqua seemed more angry than pleased she was winning. "Fight back, Terra!"

She paused in her beating to see if he would answer. He got none from him, making her growl. There was a echoing slap as Aqua slapped him with all her strength, which was less than before. Here, she was experiencing pain and damage, with the Realm of Darkness no longer able to heal her.

It was then she must have realized she was no longer in the Realm of Darkness. She froze, eyes wide with shock. There were trees all around her. The sun was shining. She could feel grass below her feet, wet with dew. She could hear birds singing and a gentle breeze on her clammy skin.

"…wh…what…?" she mumbled, completely stunned.

She was…out?

"You're…free. You can do…whatever you want…" Terra groaned as he spat up a bloody wad. His world was spinning right now and everything hurt like hell. But his mind was clearly focused on Aqua.

Aqua looked at him slowly, trying to process his words before she shook her head back and forth. She wasn't going to let her surprising freedom break her desire for revenge. She smirked darkly as she drew her arm back. "Then you're gonna die. Any last words, Terra?"

"No! Aqua, don't!" Sora screamed as he managed to find the strength to get to his feet and summon the Kingdom Heart into combat, sluggishly running to Terra and Aqua. He wasn't gonna make it!

Terra's lips moved. Sora couldn't hear what he said, but Aqua clearly did. Her arm lowered slightly and her murderous expression faltered completely. She seemed surprised. Confused. She lowered her arm completely and this action caused Sora to stop running, also confused. What was going on now?

"Say…say….say that again," Aqua asked in a rushed tone, eyes locked onto Terra.

He cleared his throat and replied, "I said…I love you."

Sora's eyes widened at what Terra had said. He hadn't expected this at all, not when she was seconds away from killing him.

Aqua actually stumbled back at this, the red sections of her arm glowing brightly as her eyes widened like dinner plates. Did he had any idea how long she had been waiting for those words? How long she wanted him to tell her that? And now, when he did….

She was…

Broken.

Aqua bit back a sob as she yelled back at Terra, "No. NO! You can't…you can't…!"

Terra's expression challenged her firmly. "I can. I did. And really, you have power to kill me, but you have no power over my heart. I love you, Aqua. Even now."

"Terra…" Aqua croaked as her hands went to the side of her head and she dropped to her knees, shaking violently. "Why? How can you…how?"

"Because love is blind."

Time seemed to freeze for Aqua. She simply stared at Terra silently, mouth agape, mind struggling to process her tidal wave of feelings.

Terra closed his eyes again. He was ready for whatever came next. He expected death and pain, for sure.

What neither he or Sora expected was for Aqua to sob wetly as black, corrupted tears poured from her eyes. Terra's eyes snapped open and Sora watched on with a mixture of pity and sadness. How could this have happened to these friends? Reduced to this, wallowing in agony?

Aqua, one of the toughest women alive, simply broke at those words. Her misery had reached its peak as she collapsed onto Terra's chest and began to cry uncontrollably. She was having a total mental break down and all Terra could do as she hit his chest and screamed was rub her back.

Sora just watched this scene unfold before him, but it looked like Terra had been right. It wasn't easy and the road ahead for Aqua was likely going to be painful.

But they had finally saved the wayward Master.

Sora thought it was all worth it.

_**A bit of a rewrite here! I wanted to actually make this a one-shot, even if it's a bit long.**_

_**I've wanted to do Anti-Aqua/Corrupted Aqua for a while now. I really think Terra should have been there fighting her, so I elected to do Sora and Terra (in Xemnas's body) vs. Anti-Aqua. I tried to make her a bit more monstrous, but still remain her appearance.**_

_**I'll be working on the final two or three chapters of Clandestine! It's about time I wrapped out that monster, don't you think!?**_


End file.
